Wine knife v corkscrew

Tried and tested: The waiter's friend. Photo: Quentin Jones

What's the best way to open a non-screw-cap bottle of wine? Wine knife (aka waiter's friend)? A corkscrew? What kind?

The romance of cork, eh? Nothing sounds quite like that glorious, slippery pop. And nothing sounds quite like the cursing when the cork disintegrates. For a while there, during the glorious Screw Cap Revolution of the noughties, we Antipodeans looked as if we might be largely freed from the tyranny of cork and its tendency, too often, to ruin perfectly good wine. When New World winemakers abandoned corks en masse, I conducted a Maoist purge of the litter of corkscrews I'd acquired over years of wishing there was an easier, faster way to extract the thing separating me from my next glass of wine.

But we still need a corkscrew in the house, for older wines and European buys. Of the dozen-plus corkscrews in our second kitchen drawer - the classic T-shape, the old-school double-winged model, the plasticky promotional ''waiter's friend'' no self-respecting waiter would ever befriend, the Italian designer number, and quite a few others - I have kept two.

One is an ageing, basic-model screwpull - the kind where you keep winding until the coil makes its way into the cork, pulls it out, and screws it off again. I love it because it is idiot-proof and requires no muscle, although some say it can be a little rough on older, fragile corks. (You might want a special corkscrew for these - the kind with two flat prongs to insert either side of the cork.) The second corkscrew I kept is a waiter's friend. It's a good one but I rarely use it because wielding one of these with panache takes practice. My husband, however, scorns anything else.

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There is a point to this: you can read all the consumer surveys you like but the best corkscrew is the one that works best for you.

That said, there are a couple of things to look for: a sharp point and a coil that's sturdy but not too thick, maybe with a Teflon-type coating for ease of entry. Make sure it feels comfortable in your hand - especially if you have to grip it hard. If you fancy a waiter's friend, a curved design will probably feel better than a straight one.

9 comments so far

I find the best way is with the heel of an RM Williams boot.

Commenter

MJ

Location

Prahran

Date and time

October 09, 2013, 9:58AM

Who cares as long as the bloody bottle is safely opened!

Commenter

Appaloosa

Location

Date and time

October 09, 2013, 11:25AM

The usual corkscrew is fine for most corks, though a dying breed.The other with the two prongs is a necessity for old wines with fragile corks as the normal screw simply pulls through and then you end up using a coffee filter or muslin to remove fragments of cork having had to push the cork into the bottle of wine or dribbled the wine into a decanter.

Commenter

Paddy

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

October 09, 2013, 3:18PM

And who really cares - nowadays almost all wine sold with screw-on caps. Really shame!

Commenter

Cynic

Location

Melb

Date and time

October 09, 2013, 4:49PM

Until the French and Italians come around, corkscrews are going to continue seeing action for some time. Same if you have some older Australian wine.

Aside from the regular screw and prong models, I've seen an innovative model that used a thin needle to inject pressurised gas under the cork to force it out; Worked a treat.

Commenter

KK

Location

Balmain

Date and time

October 10, 2013, 10:28AM

The good old German "Ah So". Twin parallel blades, one slightly longer than the other, slips down either side of the cork gently rotate & pull the cork free. No damage to the cork whatsoever, and can re-use the cork without any problem. Had mine since the early 1970s and wouldn't use any other.

Screw caps are fine, they work well and are reasonably sustainable (especially if you are a cork tree). They were introduced because production of the corks was unable to keep up with the production of the wine.

Commenter

NucMed

Location

Ust-Kamenogorsk

Date and time

October 10, 2013, 10:32AM

Screwcaps were first introduced in the late sixties to eliminate cork taint—not because cork production could not keep up. There is nothing more depressing than opening, for example, a magnum of what should have been a fine aged Cabernet only to find it undrinkable.

As for cork oaks, they need to have their bark stripped at least every 25 years or they can die.

Amorim brought a couple of their top bark strippers from Europe a few years ago to strip the cork oaks in Canberra because they were at risk of becoming diseased.

Commenter

GeoffG

Location

Date and time

October 10, 2013, 1:46PM

Best way to open a wine bottle?

Don't.

I am an alcoholic. This approach works best for me.

Commenter

dan

Location

sydney

Date and time

October 10, 2013, 11:56AM

I mucked around with a few different types, but in the end settled on the waiter's friend. Be aware, however, that the cheap ones are no good. The plastic sandwich handle type split and they become hard work. Get one with a 1 piece handle. The most important thing to look for in a waiters friend, however, is a serrated blade on the knife. It makes life so, so much easier. And a tip, cut the foil on the underside of the of the ridge rather than the top. A two stage lever makes life easier too, but is less important than the serrated blade.